Why disappointing his voters can help Gantz succeed - analysis

Gantz was never really the leader of the anti-Netanyahu camp that Lapid, Tzur and many of his voters wanted him to be. Nor was the former IDF chief of staff ever that much of a fighter.

By GIL HOFFMAN
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz at the swearing in of the Knesset (photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY / POOL)
Blue and White leader Benny Gantz at the swearing in of the Knesset
(photo credit: ALEX KOLOMOISKY / POOL)
When Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz issued what was seen as a timid statement following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attacks on the justice system the day Netanyahu’s trial began, many Blue and White voters were outraged.
They elected him as an alternative to Netanyahu and out of a desire to see a fresh face – not suspected of severe corruption – in the Prime Minister’s Office. Gantz, however, who already angered them by joining a Netanyahu-led government, was not giving them the goods.
They were angered further on Thursday, when Gantz’s response to Netanyahu’s calls to put a reporter who investigated him in jail left something to be desired.
“The role of journalists is to criticize us politicians,” was all he had to say in defense of Channel 13 investigative reporter Raviv Drucker, without mentioning the context of this statement.
Voters asked: What happened to the Gantz they used to know, who bashed Netanyahu regularly during the campaign? What happened to the Gantz who compared Netanyahu to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and said that he did not trust a word Israel’s prime minister said.
One possible answer, whether his voters like it or not, is that the current Gantz is the real one.
The Gantz from the campaign seemed to have been taking orders from aggressive strategist Ronen Tzur, a former Labor MK who tries to mirror politicians in his own image.
In the first two campaigns, Gantz was also influenced by his number two, MK Yair Lapid, who detests Netanyahu for his own personal reasons and refuses to sit in a government with someone who is on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Gantz was never really the leader of the anti-Netanyahu camp that Lapid, Tzur and many of his voters wanted him to be. Nor was the former IDF chief of staff ever that much of a fighter.
Unlike other generals, Gantz rose through the ranks of the IDF by avoiding confrontation, not by overcoming it by force.
What worked for Gantz in the army is what guides him now in politics: Lay low and wait for others to make mistakes.
Blue and White is faring poorly in current polls, but polls do not matter with no election in sight.
What matters to Gantz is that on November 17, 2021, he is set to become prime minister, according to what he believes is an iron-clad agreement with Netanyahu.
That is why rattling the boat between now and then is the last thing Gantz wants to do.
Meanwhile, Gantz does not have it bad. He is alternate prime minister, with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it. He is defense minister and a force to be reckoned with by the world, which sees him as Netanyahu’s heir apparent.
Gantz is not about to risk losing all that to please his disappointed voters, and he is unwilling to be what he is not, even if it means these voters will only grow more disappointed.